


swimming pools & lion facts

by laurenjauregui



Series: you make me sick (for being so perfect) drafts [6]
Category: Fifth Harmony (Band)
Genre: F/F, autistic!lauren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-16 01:31:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10561122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurenjauregui/pseuds/laurenjauregui
Summary: soulmate au: the name of your soulmate appears on your wrist when you turn thirteen. Camila is desperate to find hers. Lauren just hopes hers will like her.





	

When Camila turns thirteen and finds a generic, female name on her wrist, she doesn’t know which part to freak out about first. The fact that her soulmate is a _girl_ , or the fact that she’s called _Lauren_. She looks it up, and there are over 200,000 people in the U.S. with the name Lauren. There’s even a girl in her class called Lauren, but she knows it’s not her – that Lauren was bragging about how her soulmate was clearly a boy in their class, and _Camila_ isn’t exactly a male name.

 _How_ is she supposed to find her soulmate when it’s such a common name? And how is she going to tell her mom that it’s a girl?

Personally, Camila doesn’t have any problem with having a female soulmate. People fall in love with the _person_ , not the gender, and Camila is just happy she has a soulmate in the first place. She’d heard horror stories about people who never got a name on their wrist when they turned thirteen.

The name on her wrist is both comforting and terrifying. She has a soulmate, thank _god_ , but she doesn’t know how she’s going to find her.

-

When Camila is fourteen and a freshman in high school, her buddy for the first week is a senior named Lauren. While the age difference isn’t ideal, she’s desperate to find her soulmate, because it worries her a lot. If she finds her Lauren, she won’t be so stressed.

She catches a glimpse of the girl’s tattoo, and it’s _Brad_. She feels bad for this Lauren, because she has a generic name, too, but she’s also really relieved that it’s not this girl. She hadn’t felt any connection at all, and the age difference, while it wouldn’t matter when they’re older, is too much.

Another Lauren to cross off the 200,000.

-

Surprisingly, other than the Lauren that’s in her class, the one who’s already _found_ her soulmate, Camila doesn’t run into any other Laurens, except a girl working at a checkout in Walmart who looked like she really didn’t want to be there.

Camila gets a job as a lifeguard at her local pool when she’s seventeen. It’s for Saturdays and after school (if she wants) and she’s never actually had to save anyone’s life yet. She’s kind of worried about that, even though she’s had a lot of training, and it’s definitely a relief when most of her job is watching people in the pool and blowing a whistle at kids when they get too loud.

She starts working before school to earn some extra cash – she’s been thinking about colleges, and that’s expensive, so she needs some money behind her – and when she gets to work and the pool is literally empty, Camila isn’t sure how this is going to work out. Maybe it’ll be an easy couple of hours.

She’s sat in her lifeguard chair, watching the pool, in a weird daydream because _nothing_ is happening, when a raven haired girl walks in and gets into the pool via the steps. Even though it’s empty, the girl doesn’t jump in, and Camila respects that. She remembers when she’d go swimming regularly, and she’d _hate_ it when people jumped in or splashed her.

Camila smiles a little when the girl pulls a pair of goggles on and then ducks under the water. She watches the girl swim for a while, and she’s ready to jump into the pool when she sees the girl stop in the middle of a length.

She doesn’t look like she’s in trouble, so Camila can’t comprehend why she stopped halfway through. Most people would carry on until they reached the end of that length and then take a break.

The girl doesn’t leave her questioning for long, because after a moment, a raspy voice speaks up. “Can you stop staring at me?”

It takes a few moments for Camila to realise that the girl is talking to her. “Um… I kind of can’t. It’s my job to make sure you don’t hit your head or something and end up drowning. If I don’t watch, I can’t do that.”

“I don’t like being stared at.” The girl says. “Stop it.”

“Um…” Camila doesn’t really know what to say to the girl’s request. She’s already explained perfectly clearly why she can’t stop watching. “I can’t.”

The girl huffs, pulls her goggles back onto her face and resumes swimming.

-

The girl is there again when Camila clocks in for work a few days after. While she couldn’t see her face very well underneath the goggles and because of the distance, this time, when Camila runs into her on her way out to the pool, she’s kind of taken aback.

A pair of bright green eyes lock with hers for a moment, before the girl’s gaze flits away. She’s curvy, and her black and white bikini fits her perfectly, and Camila’s gaze lingers for a little while. The girl’s plump lips are chapped, and Camila is aware that they’re forming words or some kind, but she’s not paying much attention, because her eyes are on the little freckles on the bridge of the girl’s nose and the ring in her left nostril.

Camila feels her stomach turn over, because _fucking hell_ , this girl really is beautiful.

“ _Well_?” The girl’s irritated tone snaps Camila back to earth. “Are you going to?”

Camila blinks in confusion. “Going to what?”

“Stop watching me swim,” the girl folds her arms across her chest, “I don’t like it.”

“I can’t not watch you,” Camila answers, walking towards her lifeguard’s chair. “I’m a _lifeguard_. It’s my job to watch people swim. Make sure they stay safe.”

“If I’m drowning, I’d be screaming and there’d be a lot of splashing, so… you don’t have to watch me. Just listen.” The girl points out. “I don’t like it when people stare at me.”

“You wouldn’t be screaming if you hit your head and knocked yourself out,” Camila counters. “I won’t _stare_. I’ll just look at regular intervals, okay?”

The girl sighs, but turns around and heads over to the pool steps. She pulls on her goggles again, and Camila smiles to herself, watching the girl get in the pool before looking away.

She looks away for a few minutes, and then checks on the girl, who is peacefully swimming lengths of the pool. She rotates between playing a few iPhone games and making sure the girl is okay, but the clock hits 8:00 and her two hour shift is up. She gets off the lifeguard’s chair, her replacement already there, and she heads into the staff locker room to quickly change into her outfit for the day and grabs her car keys.

When she leaves the pool, the girl is outside, probably waiting for someone to pick her up.

She walks past her, not expecting the girl to talk to her, but she does. “Thank you for not staring at me.”

“Oh, uh,” Camila turns around to face the girl, but she’s avoiding her gaze. “No problem.”

The girl doesn’t further conversation, so Camila shrugs and gets into her car, ready to head off for school.

-

“You _never_ have crushes, Mila,” Dinah sighs, throwing a piece of popcorn in the air and attempting to catch it in her mouth. It bounces off her nose. “I just want to gossip with my best friend, and literally the only crush you’ve ever had was on Mahone, and I didn’t exactly like him. Have a crush on someone cool. Like Shawn.”

“Shawn’s _gay_ , China,” Camila rolls her eyes, paying more attention to the movie than Dinah. She already has her alarm set for work tomorrow, and she’s conscious of the time and getting ready to kick her best friend out. If she needs to be up at five, she wants to go to sleep soon. “Besides, I don’t see the point of dating if they’re not your soulmate.”

Dinah shrugs, “It’s fun. And you have to at least find people attractive. There’s plenty of nice looking guys and girls at our school. Besides, some people never find their soulmate.”

“I don’t want to be one of those people,” Camila sighs, “I want to find her, but _Lauren_ is such a generic name that there’s probably like, two million people in the world called it. It’s not like yours. _Normani_ is like, unique and stuff. Even _my_ name is easier than _Lauren_.”

Dinah groans. “I don’t care about the soulmate thing. If I find her, I find her. If not, then I can find someone I like just as much. But _anyway_ , gossip to me. Who do you have your eye on?”

Knowing that Dinah won’t drop the subject, Camila shrugs. “Nobody, really. I mean, there’s this girl that comes into my work on a morning and swims, and she’s really pretty. But I don’t _like_ her or anything.”

Dinah grins. “That’s more like it. What’s her name?”

“I don’t even know,” Camila shrugs, “all I know is that she looks cute in the little goggles she brings. And she doesn’t like people staring at her.”

“Damn, sucks to be you, then,” Dinah snorts with laughter, “but you should ask her for her number or something.”

“Not going to happen,” Camila is quick to answers, “I just want to find my soulmate.”

-

“Do you think my soulmate will still like me?” Lauren asks her mom, tracing the name on her wrist with her finger. “Do you think Camila will still like me when she finds out that I’m different?”

“She’s your soulmate, Lauren,” Clara says, surprised that her daughter is talking over _The Lion King_. “Of course she’ll still like you. There’s a reason you’re soulmates.”

“But I don’t want-” Lauren cuts herself off with a sigh, “I don’t want her to- to call me a mean thing if she meets me and realises. I don’t want her to think I’m the ‘f’ word or the ‘r’ word.”

“She won’t,” Clara squeezes her hand, “I promise you. Your soulmate will love you, Lauren. It’s hard not to love you.”

Lauren smiles at her mom. “Yes. I hope so.”

Clara shakes her head. “I know so-”

“There’s this girl at the pool that keeps staring at me,” Lauren interrupts, the girl jumping to the forefront of her mind. “I think she might be new there, because I’ve never seen her working before. But she stares at me a lot, so I asked her not to, and she didn’t today. I think she’s nice.”

Clara hums in reply, used to her daughter’s random subject changes. “You should see if she’d like to spend time with you. Maybe you could make a friend.”

“Mhm.” Lauren hums to herself. “I will think about it, because I’m not sure how to talk to people I don’t know very well.”

“I know,” Clara says, watching as Lauren trains her gaze back onto the TV. She really wishes her daughter could make just one friend, but with Lauren’s insistence on staying homeschooled for her senior year, it’s turning into a problem. She knows that Lauren is lonely, so if she encourages her to talk to the girl at the pool, maybe she’ll be a little happier. “You’ll get through it. Maybe you can tell her some lion facts.”

“Oh, yes, I’ll think about that.” Lauren replies. “Lions are very interesting and beautiful creatures.”

Lauren spends the rest of _The Lion King_ thinking of good lion facts to tell the girl at the pool.

-

Camila is already in her lifeguard’s seat when she spots the girl heading out of the changing rooms. As requested, she looks away, but when it’s been a few minutes and she doesn’t hear the girl getting into the pool, she glances back and notices the girl stood a few feet away from her.

Camila tries to make a joke. “Are you going to ask me to look at you today? Does your preference for staring change?”

The girl frowns. “I still do not want you to stare at me while I swim.”

“Oh,” Camila’s cheeks turn pink, her joke not going down well. Embarrassing herself in front of pretty girls is kind of terrifying. “Well, uh, I-”

“Did you know that a lion’s tail can measure from 26.5 to 39.5 inches?”

“Um,” Camila pauses, a little taken aback by the random subject change, “no. I didn’t know that. That’s… interesting.”

“And also- um,” the girl rocks on her heels, staring out at the pool, “African lion prides are different from Asian lion prides. The Asian ones have two prides, a male one and a female one, and they only come together during mating season. The African ones have a single pride with three to four males, and a dozen females, and their cubs.”

“That’s…” Camila trails off, “nice.”

“Yes,” the girl nods, “it is.”

With that, the girl gets into the pool and starts swimming, and Camila spends the rest of her shift wondering why the girl decided to give her a quick lesson on lions. It’s a little odd, but she shrugs it off. Maybe she’s training to be a zoologist or something and is just enthusiastic about her trade.

When Camila is on her way out to her car, the girl is waiting to be picked up. She doesn’t speak to her, because she isn’t exactly sure what to say when it comes to pretty girls, so she decides to head over to her car as quickly as she can.

The girl spots her again. “Hello! Would you like to hear another lion fact? I know lots about them.”

“I- uh, I actually have to go,” Camila says, pointing over to her car, “I have school.”

“Oh,” the girl seems to deflate. “Okay.”

Not liking the way the girl’s mood has dropped, Camila tries a smile. “But, I mean, a quick fact would be cool?”

“Oh!” the girl looks up with a smile. “Well, when a female lion gives birth, she does it in secret, and hides the cubs for the first six weeks of their lives. Also, at birth, a lion’s cub weighs only three pounds, and it is entirely dependent on its mother.”

“That’s cute,” Camila comments, “but I have to go now. Bye.”

“Goodbye,” the girl replies, rocking herself on her heels.

As Camila gets into her car, she smiles to herself. After a quick drive to school, she plans on telling Dinah about the girl, but her best friend cuts her off with more important news.

“Oh my god, Walz,” Dinah pulls her into the nearest supply closet and Camila isn’t entirely sure how to react. “Why didn’t you answer my texts?”

“I was working, it’s switched off,” Camila answers with a frown, “Why? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong!” Dinah grins. “I found her, Mila. _Normani_. I found my soulmate.”

Even though Camila is happy for her friend, the words make her heart sink. Dinah, who always talked about how the soulmate thing didn’t matter, had found hers. But Camila, who constantly worries about it, still hasn’t.

“That’s- that’s great, DJ,” Camila says, but her smile doesn’t entirely reach her eyes.

-

Camila decides that she hates her job on a Saturday.

Not only is the pool full of loud, screaming kids, the girl isn’t there. Camila isn’t sure if it’s because she’s on a later shift, and the girl is generally there early, but she definitely prefers her early morning shift, because even though the girl tells her not to, she likes looking at her.

-

Lauren arrives at the pool earlier than usual. So early that the doors are still locked.

She usually arrives at five minutes to six, because the doors are open, and six is when the pool officially opens, but she was very excited to see her new friend, the lifeguard girl, so she was a little too punctual.

Lauren is really happy to have a friend. Especially one as nice as lifeguard girl.

She waits outside the doors, and after around ten minutes, someone comes and opens the doors, an older man who she thinks owns the place.

After flashing her membership card, Lauren makes her way into the changing rooms and strips out of her sweater and jeans, already in her swimming costume underneath. She gets her goggles out of her bag and makes sure to tie her hair up, before putting her things in her usual locker.

She follows the signs out to the pool, and when she spots lifeguard girl in her chair, she smiles and goes over to say hello. “Hi.”

“Oh, hi,” lifeguard girl looks over at her and Lauren flushes under her gaze. “Why weren’t you here on Saturday?”

Lauren frowns. “I never come on Saturdays. It’s too loud. Just on weekdays in the morning.”

“Oh,” lifeguard girl laughs in reply, “yeah, I can agree with you on that. This place is full of screaming kids. I literally have to use this every two seconds.”

The girl holds up a whistle, and before Lauren can say anything, she blows into it, and a harsh, loud sound pierces the room. Lauren’s hands shoot up to cover her ears, and when the sound is gone, she looks up at the girl. “Please don’t do that again.”

“I’m sorry,” lifeguard girl apologises, “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“It’s okay,” Lauren answers. “Would you like another lion fact?”

Lifeguard girl smiles. “Yeah, sure.”

“Okay,” Lauren pauses to choose a fact, “a lion’s scientific classification is panthera leo.”

After a few moments, lifeguard girl sends her another smile, and it makes Lauren’s heart warm. “Why do you know so much about lions?”

Lauren shrugs. “I like lions. They are my favourite wild animal. My favourite domesticated animal is a dog, and my dog is really cute. He’s a dachshund and his name is Dash. My favourite ocean animal is a shark.”

“So like, two out of three of your favourite animals could kill you,” lifeguard girl laughs, and Lauren thinks that maybe she’s being funny, but she can’t tell, so she doesn’t laugh. “My favourite ocean animal is a Dory fish. I don’t know what they’re called.”

Lauren beams, because she knows this. “It’s a blue tang fish.”

“Damn,” lifeguard girl answers. “You’re really smart.”

“Yes, I know,” Lauren replies, “I have a 5.0 GPA.”

“Oh, whoa,” lifeguard girl says, “I have like, a 3.8. It _would_ be a 4.0 if my best friend Dinah didn’t distract me in class all the time. I don’t know how you’re focused enough to have a 5.0, though.”

“I am homeschooled,” Lauren absently replies, “I’m going to swim now.”

Lifeguard girl smiles. “Okay.”

Lifeguard girl doesn’t stare at her, which Lauren likes. She’s glad that lifeguard girl is her friend.

On the way out of the pool, lifeguard girl spots her. “Hey. Um… what’s your name?”

Lauren blinks in surprise, realising that she’s never said that. “Lauren.”

-

Camila goes about her day in a catatonic state. _Lauren_. Pool girl is called _Lauren_.

Now, Camila needs to figure out what Lauren’s tattoo says. Since every time Camila sees her, she’s in a bikini, it shouldn’t be too hard. Since Lauren hadn’t asked for her name before she rushed off, Camila doesn’t have to deal with the inevitable nonchalance because Camila’s name _isn’t_ on Lauren’s wrist.

And it sucks, because she really fucking likes this girl and her adorable lion facts.

-

When Lauren arrives at the pool the next day, lifeguard girl gets down from her chair and runs over to her. Lauren goes to remind her that you shouldn’t run by the poolside, because you could slip and fall, and since she’s a _lifeguard_ , she should know that better than anyone, but lifeguard girl speaks first.

“Can I see your arm?” Lifeguard girl asks, and Lauren tilts her head to the side in confusion. “Please?”

Lauren hums. “Why?”

“I want to see your tattoo,” lifeguard girl continues, and Lauren isn’t sure what to say, because her mom had always told her that your soulmate tattoo is a personal thing, and you shouldn’t show it to just anybody. “Please, Lauren.”

Lauren taps her hand against her thigh. “I don’t know. My mom tells me that it’s a personal thing.”

“I know, I know it’s personal,” lifeguard girl says, “I think it is too. But this is really important.”

Lauren hums in thought. “I think I will let you see, but only if you show me yours too. Because you’re my new friend, and I like you.”

Lifeguard girl glances up at her in surprise. “We’re friends?”

“Yes,” Lauren answers, announcing proudly, “you’re my first ever friend.”

“You don’t- you don’t have any friends?” Lifeguard girl looks at her in confusion. “But why? I think you’re adorable.”

Lauren blushes, because she’s never been called adorable before. “I’m homeschooled and people- people think I’m weird. But that’s okay, because you’re my friend now, so I’m not lonely as much.”

“Oh,” lifeguard girl pulls her in for a hug, and while Lauren is a little uncomfortable, she pats the other girl on the back. Then, when lifeguard girl pulls away, she asks, “Can I see your tattoo, Lauren?”

Lauren bobs her head in reply, and holds out her arm, tracing over the name with her finger. “Her name is Camila. I’m scared about meeting her, because- because I think she might not like me when she realises that I’m autistic.”

Lifeguard girl stares at her in shock, and Lauren realises that she hadn’t told lifeguard girl that yet. She worries that maybe she’s not her friend anymore, and she goes to make amends, but then lifeguard girl holds out her arm, and Lauren realises why she’s so shocked.

Lauren’s name is on lifeguard girl’s wrist.

Lauren traces over her name with her finger. “That’s funny. Your soulmate has the same name as me.”

“No, Lauren,” lifeguard girl shakes her head, “you _are_ my soulmate. My name is Camila.”

“I- _oh_ ,” Lauren blinks up at Camila in surprise, “I- I- um… do you- do you still like me?”

“ _Yes_ , oh my god,” Camila pulls her in for another hug, but this one is tighter, and Lauren feels the girl’s hot tears on her shoulder. “You’re my soulmate. I found my soulmate.”

Lauren holds onto Camila tightly, her tummy feeling warm when she realises that Camila still likes her. That her soulmate likes her. “I am glad you still like me.”

Camila’s hand tangles into Lauren’s hair and holds her closer. “God, of _course_ I still like you. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because I’m different,” Lauren answers simply, “some people don’t like me because they think different means bad.”

“I think different means good,” Camila mumbles against her, before she pulls away and Lauren looks into teary brown eyes. “This is the best day ever.”

Lauren smiles to herself. “Yes. It is.”


End file.
